Oh My Ghost is a comic from Web Toons with over 48,000 subscribers. The highly-rated series features the story of Loi, a boy who finds out his new home is haunted by Maya, a ghost with a penchant for snacking. Now the series creator, GhostMaya has launched a Kickstarter to offer the first physical collection of the comics. GhostMaya was kind enough to sit down and tell Monkeys Fighting Robots a little about the project.
- For those who have never read your series before, what is Oh My Ghost about?
Oh My Ghost is a webtoon or webcomic series about the story of Loi who is broke and desperate to find a place to stay. So he decides to rent a very cheap haunted house where he will meet Maya, the ghost, who has no memories of her past and who is afraid of scary stuff, including ghosts. Also, Maya loves to eat and her favorites are ice cream and cake. Yup, you heard it right, this Ghost can eat because logic is useless in my series.
By the way, Oh My Ghost already has 7 seasons and 700+ episodes.
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- What series influenced you to create Oh My Ghost?
The early seasons of Oh My Ghost were inspired by the series of 90’s – 2000’s anime era, like Chobits, Sailor Moon, Ranma ½, Dragon Ball Z, Card Captor Sakura, and Revolutionary Girl Utena. Later on, in season 5 and especially in season 6, most of my story was inspired by Bleach and Jojo Bizarre Adventure, Hunter x Hunter, and Gintama. There’s been a shift of genre since season 5, since I like to try action scenes and improve my story as well. Just think of my series as like Dragon Ball becoming Dragon Ball Z and Jojo’s Hamon becoming Jojo’s Stand. Yeah, you can clearly tell that I was influenced by Anime.
I still remember when I was 5 years old, every day at 5 pm, I would peek into my neighbor’s window just to watch anime since my family was very poor and we lived in a slum area here in the Philippines. Since we were poor we couldn’t afford to buy western comics.
- What is the favorite storyline you have written for the series?
I like the season 1 storyline because it has a romantic comedy theme, but my favorite is season 6. The tone of the story becomes darker since there’s a mystery, and murder theme involved. I actually did a lot of research about psychopathy and some real crime cases about murder since the main villain of season 6 has the fetish to kill beautiful high school girls.
The Villain’s character was influenced by Kira Yoshikage from Jojo Bizarre Adventure, Patrick Bateman from American Psycho, and the song “Polly” by Nirvana. Most of my fans and readers didn’t expect who the villain was. Can’t spoil it, better to read season 6 (Season 6 starts at episode 343).
- Your stories have featured both comedy and fight scenes. Which do you find easier to create?
To be honest, it really depends on my mood and inspiration. If I get tired of wholesome romance scenes, I will create a comedy episode. Then if I get tired of comedy scenes, I will create an action and fighting episode.
I think all of them are easy to make, as long as you have an inspiration or an idea. Like when you watch a movie/series then you ask yourself “What if the ending is like this?” or “What if the characters are like that?” or when you listen to music you can relate to. When you walk to a mall and you see a scenario. Sometimes my stories are based on real-life experiences. Also, my mind is full of stories, that’s why my series ended up having 700+ episodes.
5. Why did you decide to go with crowdfunding for the project?
I decided to go with crowdfunding for Oh My Ghost because it is similar to the interview with Rick Lopez (The Power). Lots of creators are tired of giving away their best ideas to companies and I’ve been a Webtoon Canvas Creator for 5 years and hoping to become one of the Webtoon Originals. But I started to lose hope and I feel that I’m not growing anymore and it felt stagnant. So I decided to try self-publishing instead and hope to gain experience as a comic artist. I’ve always dreamt of making my passion for comics my actual job, and with crowdfunding, I was hoping it will fulfill my dream.
- Your series is already up to 700+ strips. Do you have an ending in mind?
Since Episode 1, I’ve already had in my mind the perfect ending of Oh My Ghost. Spoiler Alert! It would be a tear-jerking ending. Muahaha *evil laugh* but of course, my fans and readers know that I’m unpredictable, so who knows.
- What can fans expect in the upcoming season 8 of Oh My Ghost?
More Adventure, more hints at Maya’s past, more lore, more wholesome stories, and more characters to be introduced. And of course, more stories to tell.
Are you a fan of Oh My Ghost or just hearing about it for the first time? Leave a comment below and let us know. Also, click here to check out the Kickstarter.
